According to the OpenNet Initiative (ONI)--a joint initiative of Harvard University, the University of Toronto and the SecDev Group--47% of the world's Internet users experience some form of fractured Internet. ONI bases their research on technical testing in 74 countries, 42 of which the researchers found engage in "some form of filtering of content." Though the aforementioned statistic (47%, or 960 million Internet users) includes countries like Morocco that engage only in "selective" blocking of websites, 31% of the world's Internet users live in countries that engage in "substantial" or "pervasive" online censorship.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has signed on to a joint statement with a global coalition of organizations to demand the Pakistani Ministry of Information Technology, the Information Communication Technology Research & Development Fund, and the Prime Minister, to publicly commit to stop all efforts to mandate a national Internet filtering and blocking system.

On Monday, a joint Commons and Lords committee published a report urging Google and other sites to take proactive steps to monitor their search results in order to protect the privacy of certain individuals. As a result, a committee of Parliamentary members has begun pushing for legislation to force search engines and social networks to censor themselves. The committee, set up by the prime minister, arose out of increasing controversies and injunctions to protect people’s online image.

According to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Salvadoran site El Faro is under threat for investigative reporting conducted in February 2011 on an organized crime network in Northeast El Salvador. The crime ring, said CPJ, involved gang leaders, prominent businessmen, and local politicians, and resulted in journalists from the news site being followed and photographed. CPJ notes that Salvadoran journalists who report on organized crime in the country often report feeling threatened.